2nd Quarter Library Report

Welcome 2026! Winter is in full swing here at GD, and the Library is the perfect spot to curl up and read or to chill with a good book :-) So sit back with your favorite warm beverage of choice and let me share some of the 2nd Quarter highlights from our bustling Library!

Library Statistics at a Glance:

Year-to-date circulation: 15,596 materials

Items added: 535 materials

Most popular book: Drama by Rene Telegmeier (38 check-outs!)

Thank you Mr. Barber and Mrs. Gilooly for making me feel so appreciated in January! I love the fabulous bookmarks 4th grade made for me!

Our PreK students loved all of the fun fall and winter themed books we read together this quarter, ranging in topic from being thankful early in the quarter to our current unit featuring gingerbread-themed stories. During these units, we engaged in great activities including listing the things we are most grateful for and story sequencing.

Kindergarten wrapped up a "cool" unit on Lois Ehlert in December where we learned all about her early life, where she gets her inspiration, and how she makes her gorgeous collages. Students identified main ideas, sequenced stories, created their own collages, and so much more! We've now moved on to my favorite winter-themed author: Jan Brett!

Our 1st graders have loved learning all about winter in the 2nd quarter! While using a combination of fiction and nonfiction books, students practiced the skills of listening for information and notetaking using custom-modified ESIFC graphic organizers. They have done an outstanding job and have learned so much. Do you know what the subnivean zone is? If not, ask one of our amazing 1st graders :-)

Second grade wrapped up their biography unit that culminated in the creation of their own circulating book of biographies in January! I'd like to give a BIG shoutout to an amazing group of 4th & 5th graders who came in for 3 classes to help our 2nd graders with their biography writing! These books are a wonderful way to capture a moment in our students' lives that live on long after our students graduate and move on to high school. Here are a couple of 8th graders reminiscing as they browse through the biography book their class made 6 years ago!

Now 2nd grade is learning to recognize important citizenship characteristics like courage, leadership, respect, responsibility, and tolerance while studying the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Each class we use a combination of text read-alouds and independent research on the database PebbleGo to make important connections that students then apply to their own lives.

In the 2nd quarter, to support work being done in Social Studies, 3rd grade wrapped up a unit where we used a combination of books and databases to learn about the United States, Kenya, and Australia. We focused on location, size, population, language, government, literacy, and life expectancy. We even dove deeper to explore differences within each country based on gender. Our summative activity was to complete a triple Venn Diagram where we organized the similarities and differences we uncovered.

Fourth grade has been working hard on our first Library research project! Students chose a NYS topic of their choice to explore, and they are now using the database, Britannica Online, as well as one trusted web source, to learn as much as they can about it! Students are organizing their resource citations and topic notes on a custom-made graphic organizer. Topics this year ranged from the Statue of Liberty to the Harlem Renaissance, with the most popular choice being the September 11th Attacks. Next, students will be creating a report on their topic to share-out with their classmates.

Fifth grade spent the 2nd Quarter focused on learning how to use digital resources skillfully, ethically, responsibly, and safely through a series of ESIFC-inspired lessons and hands-on activities. The concepts of copyright and plagiarism were woven throughout. As a culminating activity, students created their NoodleTools accounts and are now practicing making citations and notecards.

Sixth grade wrapped up their Create Your Own Demigod Greek Mythology research project with presentations in January. Students researched a Greek God or Goddess of their choice, using NoodleTools to organize their research questions and to-do list as well as to create their citations and notecards. The final product required students to transform their research into a creative story modeled after the popular Percy Jackson book series by Rick Riordan. We are now starting a new evidence-based claim research project where students make an argument for a new modern wonder of the world!

CTE 6 was bustling in the 2nd quarter with units on Mindfulness and Budgeting! We practiced mindful eating with delicious clementines provided by Ms. Lori, positive thoughts with fortune tellers, and mindful listening with partner work. Other lessons from our Mindfulness unit included mindful breathing, mindful observation, and learning to respond and not react to situations.

Our budgeting unit has been a huge hit with the kids as they have been engaged in fun hands-on activities designed to simulate the real world. In the Budgeting Project, students explored what it is like to have income and pay bills in a choose-your-own-adventure style activity. They are now immersed in the Million Dollar Project where they are learning important life skills like cursive signatures, computing expense balance sheets, and check writing.

Seventh grade CTE finished two units in the 2nd Quarter. First, they studied Building Healthy Relationships in Unit 2, where the focus was on identifying the characteristics of healthy versus unhealthy relationships. In this unit, they explored changes they can make in their own lives to improve their current and future relationships. This unit culminated in a role model project where students analyzed and presented on their own role models drawn from their families, friends, and celebrities. Next, we studied Effective Communication in Unit 3. In this unit, students explored the characteristics of effective verbal and nonverbal communication mostly through their participation in several engaging role-play and group activities where they could observe and practice these skills with each other. The culminating project for this unit was a 2-page research paper detailing how they feel technology has impacted the way we communicate today. They had to house their citations and notecards in NoodleTools and discuss what they feel are the pros and cons of the technological innovations they researched. Students are now starting our final "soft skills" unit on Problem Solving.

Eighth grade also wrapped up two units in the 2nd quarter: Choosing the Right Career and Personal Finance. In Choosing the Right Career, students researched their dream job, focusing on how to find the right training, how much the training would cost, what the job growth is, and what the average salary is for entry level jobs in that field. Students were then asked to do a cost analysis to determine how easy or hard it would be to pay off any associated school debt. Next, they learned how to make their first resume and how to write a cover letter. The unit culminated with a guest presentation by Will Potts from the Renesselaer Chick-Fil-A who discussed interview tips for getting a job in high school.

In our Personal Finance unit we learned about creating budgets using several different strategies. Then we covered credit reports and credit scores, how to build your credit, the pros and cons of credit cards, and the different types of financial institutions. We are now studying consumerism and learning about the psychology of marketing. Our own amazing Kyle Barber came in this week to talk to our 8th graders about how Influencers make their social media posts.

The students in Music Research wrapped up their Genres research in the 2nd quarter by interviewing an older person of their choice and researching that person's favorite music genre, artist, and song from when they were 13 or 14. In just about every project, students participate in peer evaluations to help improve their work. Before the holiday break, they presented their projects to the class. We are now finishing an Opposing Viewpoints research project where students identified a current controversial topic related to music and analyzed at least two viewpoints related to it. They are now working on an evidence-based claim paper where they will present the viewpoints they researched before discussing their opinion on the topic, backing up their claims with evidence from their sources.

In Library, the ICAN students have been learning all about the 5 senses. I have constructed modified lessons using interactive kits, custom made books, and adaptive resources that have engaged the students and promoted their usage of both verbal and electronically assisted communication.

On January 29th, I attended the Questar School Library Services annual Showcase of Excellence at Capital Region BOCES headquarters in Albany. There, school librarians from around the region presented on some of the projects and materials they are using in their school library programs. It was wonderful learning from my colleagues!

Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or comments you may have!

Email: lfecura@wynantskillufsd.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/wynantskillufsd.org/lfecura/home?pli=1
Location: 25 East Avenue, Troy, NY, USA
Phone: (518)283-4600 238